Italy captain Eleonora Lo Bianco: “Congratulations to Japan, they played a great match especially in defense. We are sorry to miss the opportunity to play for the fifth place. We started well in the game but did not find the patience to play against this team.”

Japan captain Erika Araki: “We played well today in both our serve and defense. Although we started slow in the second set of the match but we gained momentum and won a lot of points in the second half of the set.”

Italy coach Massimo Barbolini: "Congratulations to Japan for the good match they played. We lost a good chance to play a longer match against Japan and to win. We played at the same level in the first two sets, but in the third set, we made too many mistakes in attack. There was a crucial moment in the second set, at 21-14 where we had many problems with reception. Japan played better and they deserve the victory.”

Japan coach Masayoshi Manabe: “Firstly, we are happy to play against Italy, one of the strongest teams in the world. We won today’s match due to a better performance in our serve."